Young Writers Society

My English teacher just went over this, and only one of us already knew it. So, I thought that would probably be the case here.

B.C. = Before Christ
A.D. = In the year of your Lord

Most of us know that, but because that's religious, they've changed it:

B.C.E.= Before Common Era
C.E. = Common Era

Now, here's the odd thing. We're still having 0 be the year of Jesus's birth.

When the initial acronyms (BC and AD) were set, it was in a very Christian dominated world.

We no longer live in that world, and because of that, some have proposed the use BCE and CE. These are the exact same dates, they just have different names. It's along the same sort of line as 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays'.

I personally still use BC and AD, but I like the idea behind it. Both are acceptable, so use whichever you prefer .

I still use BC and AD. I think they're going a little over kill on it. It wasn't just because it was a Christian dominated world they used these letters, but because Jesus did exist, whether you believe He was the messiah. He made an impact on that generation, again, no matter how he did it, or how you believe he did it, and that impact carried into when they began these dates.

Ah, the joys of political correctness!

B.C. and A.D. still sound better when said, hands down. This may be partially because you sound like a goon saying "B.C.E." and partially because 'anno domini' is just plain better because it's Latin. Anything is better in Latin.

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Strange ideas they keep coming up with. I'll stay to B.C. and A.D., even though I never use them in writing or anything...It's just been there since I've known, I doubt anyone but those who wanted to change it are even going to embrace the change. It isn't like it's going to be forced. Too many people would get confused, like what happens when they try telling everyone in America to use the metric system xD I love the metric system...

I would stick to BC and AD in writing. Academic papers and non-fiction might be a good place to put BCE and CE.

Kah, everything has to be "politically correct" nowdays. You can't have blackboards anymore, they're called something else instead. The world is going to end up with Muslims and other religions or sects ruling supreme, and Christians having hardly any rights at all. Maybe that is a little extreme, but it could happen.

Who would have thought in the times when coloured people were slaves, that one day you'd get into trouble if anyone portrayed a black person in an unfriendly light?

I'm personally a little suprised that there were half-naked savages in Dead Man's Chest - it's like the savages in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I wouldn't have thought would be allowed. It isn't "politicaly correct", but perhaps the people in charge liked DMC too much to change it.

-ShadowTwit

ShadowTwit, that's not the topic. Please keep to the original topic - it's touchy enough as it is, and if it starts to look more like a debate, this thread will be moved to the Debate forum.

McMourning, I personally don't think it matters much which one you choose. Everyone still understands the meaning, and if you want to stick with B.C. and A.D., I don't see any reason why you shouldn't. If you want to go with B.C.E. and C.E., you can do that too, although the former is more widely recognized.

Snap: Actually, Jesus' influence wasn't really felt until later. At his time, and after his death, he still only had relatively few followers (hence the lack of historical info on him).

Also, it's not known when exactly he was born, so BC and AD aren't completely accurate terms anwyay.

ShadowTwit: No one is forcing you to use BCE and CE. It's about not assuming that everyone has the same religion as you.

If you were forced to use BCE and CE, then I would argue against it. However, it's a nice alternative, that just sits their quietly to be used if you wish.

And, personally, I find your fierce objection to it every bit as bad as a fierce objection to BC and AD. Use whichever you prefer (and for me, that is indeed BC and AD).

...no. Just no. I mean, I can see why people would like it, but HONESTLY, it's too cumbersome. And what about Johnny Hart? He's not going to like this at all!

Hahaha. Just a side note - I used to write my diary entries with "AD" attached to every entry. XD

I've no problem with either. Both have their place, obviously.

Hunter wrote: Both have their place, obviously.

Ah....that one works.

ShadowTwit wrote:The world is going to end up with Muslims and other religions or sects ruling supreme, and Christians having hardly any rights at all.

... yeah, so?
The world was dominated by all sorts of pagan religions for ages an' ages. Times change.

I, personally, use BCE/CE because the BC/AD thing is actually off, like Surreal said. I also like "common era" because, as we know, the whole world is not Christian. There are a number of other world religions and a number of nonreligious people who probably do not care when Christ was born.

I would love to see the current system scrapped entirely in favor of a real common era, starting at 1 all over again.

I would love to see the current system scrapped entirely in favor of a real common era, starting at 1 all over again.

But surely that would cause unnecessary confusion? It would be totally pointless.

Anyway, I'm not particularly bothered which one gets used. Although, BC and AD haven't been forced on anyone, much like BCE and CE They were first adopted by Western Europe, and other countries chose to adopt them later on. Also, though the BC/AD system is the most popular, it is by no means the only one in existence. North Korea, for example, uses a system that started in 1912, the year of birth of Kim Il Sung, its founder. Also, there are Islam, Hebrew and Hindu calendars in existence.

So, whichever you want to use, i don't really see the fuss.

A lot of calendars reset fairly often. The Japanse calendar starts over every time they get a new emporer (or is it ruling family?) and there's really no problem there. I'm not saying it's a logical hope, but it's do-able and it would be nice.